Hi,

My 3 year old female cat is a house cat. We don't let her out as we live in an area with a busy road and some very nasty kids lurking, lol. She is completely white so would stand out and we are worried she would get stolen .

Anyway, when people come round to visit, she becomes very aggressive towards them. She sits and hisses at them and tries to scratch them. Her tail goes spikey/bristley too. It is worse with my mum, she has just flown through the air at her and scratched her badly as she walked past her.

My wife and I are getting very concerned as we are expecting our first child in October and are worried what she will be like with the baby (obviously we wouldn't leave them alone together).

She is completely fine with my wife and I. She sleeps on our bed and when downstairs, sits on my knee or right up close to me. I would say that she is definitely a spoiled cat which probably makes her worse.

Can anybody here with perhaps experience of this situation offer us any advice? Getting another cat is simply not an option btw.

Thanks.

You mention she is completely white. Does she have blue eyes ? Chances are she might be deaf, which could be the cause of her nervousness when strangers are around.

A few questions is she speyed. Has any of the visitors got other animals or ever freightened her at all. Have you always had her.
A couple of things you could try. There is a product called feliway its a plug in you can get this from the vets. You can use it with the feliway spray at the same time. It is expensive but i would give it a try.
I have a cat that hisses at visitors but he is only about 7 months. I have never had a cat when i had any of my children where newborns. The other thing is if anybody uses bleach around her like they have been cleaning the kitchen etc. that can send them bonkers. My neighbours cat always does this too me. I am sure others will be on later to give better advice.

I never thought of that. Good point.

I think what LaChatteGitane has said, is a good thought.

Of course, the less serious answer is that your cat just doesn't like your visitors

Hope everything settles down for the new arrival.

hahaha that's well funny!

my cat is also completely white (and spoilt) but is friendly to visitors.

She has one blue eye and one green eye. There is no chance she is deaf though. Her hearing is excellent. She can hear the tiniest noise! You only have to drop one of her biscuits or put the key in the door and she comes running from wherever she is in the house. The vets also confirm she is not deaf (although all of her brothers and sisters were!).


Yes, she is speyed, she was done as soon as was allowed. We got her as a kitten from a Cat Rescue Centre (nobody else has had her).

We do have a Feliway plug already. We used it last year to try and stop her from waking us in the night. It never worked.

She is a really loving cat toward me and my wife but when she's naughty, christ, she's naughty!!!! She goes behind the tv to play with the wires, plays with the fake coals on the fire and scratches down the curtains- all whilst she turns round to look at us to see if we are looking at her. She also wakes us at 4a.m by miaowing so we put her out of the bedroom and she then just cries and runs at the door and scratches down it!

She has lots of toys and scratch posts and always has food/biscuits available.

I think the problem lies with me. I'm sure she is very protective over me. It is always me she comes to and not my wife.

The only thing I can think of is to bite the bullet and let her out but we are really scared as she has only ever been around the garden a few times.

That sounds just like my kitten..............I`ve discovered that if I totally ignore him when he is doing his "manic runs" he seems to quiet down pretty quick (cats are such show-offs)

Is it possible to cat proof your garden. Its a special kind of fencing that you put up on top of your own fence. I think there is a product that you can add too there water to make them more chilled out cant remember the name of it. It does sound she is protective of you though. I had a cat that if anybody or another cats sat near me he sat on my knee. If a cat has never been outside it doesnt have too go it likes it doesnt know what its been missing. I also had a cat that i lost too a RTA but i still let my some of my others out. I have too as i have 12 and there would be riots all the time if i didnt

My cat also does this, he is 4 and we got him when he was 6 weeks old, he is a house cat too and if anyone comes into the house he doesn't know he spits at them, although he does not attack them. He is loveable to us too but everyone else is scared of him.

We had a cat like that when I was a kid. It was completely mad.

He attacked a few visitors quite seriously. On one occasion he leapt on a family friend while he was sitting in an arm chair and quite seriously scratched & bit his face and neck.

The vet was clueless and said his behaviour was like that of the worst feral cat he'd ever seen. he hated the vet and went ballistic whenever we took him there. He had to wear huge gloves to handle him. The thing was we got him as a kitten and he'd be as right as rain one minute, sitting on your lap purring away. Then he'd suddenly get up and face you with glaring eyes before making a deep howling noise. Then he'd go full on attack.

The vet advised we should have him put down but in the end my mother gave him to a woman who ran a cat rescue - and she kept him for herself. She was willing to put up with him.